What is the difference between a resort wedding planner, church wedding planner and having your own personal wedding planner?

Since brides, grooms, mothers, fathers, wedding party attendants, and vendors repetitively ask me this question, decided it is time to blog about it!¬† Could give you multiple essays on this topic, yet know you are busy, so will limit it to¬†a “few¬†instances‚ÄĚ to show you brief examples.

At the end of the day, as YOUR wedding planner, I work for YOU in YOUR BEST INTEREST.¬† I am NOT paid by the resort or the church to act on the church or the resorts behalf.¬† You hire and pay me for expert knowledge and to help create your wedding to be seamless, allowing details to be done in advance since it is organized, and on your wedding day, you are a BRIDE, and your mom is the MOB (Mother of the Bride) NOT the wedding planner!

As your personal wedding planner, I help you:

1).¬† Design your wedding (no 2 weddings are EVER alike – have even done 9 weddings in one family – making each one unique to that daughter or son’s wedding);

2).¬† Negotiate your agreements;

3). Mediate situations which may arise;

4). Plan your wedding with detailed timelines for photography, hair and makeup, and your entire day to the minute which one approved by you, is distributed to your parents, wedding party, and immediate family.

The church and resort wedding planner manage multiple weddings and events at their same location, and are familiar with the ins and outs of their property.¬† The church and resort wedding planner may have more than one wedding and/or event on the same day and/or same time as your wedding.¬† Make sure¬†when you are looking for a ceremony and reception site you know how many weddings and/or events they will book on the same day as your¬†wedding (before, during and after your wedding).¬† It may affect your vendor load in, your photographs, and time frame of what you may create or NOT create with your wedding design because of lack of time of setup and preplanning.

At a recent wedding where I was hired by the groom as their wedding planner, the resort wedding planner checked in with the bride and groom, then me. The resort wedding planner let me know at the wedding rehearsal the day before she had another wedding at the same time as my bride, and she was going to assign another resort wedding planner to be at her wedding.¬† I asked her if she had let my bride know, and she replied, ‚ÄúNo‚ÄĚ.¬†¬† I highly suggested to the resort wedding planner a substitute the day before the wedding was not acceptable, and the bride and groom did not need any additional stress because of a resort situation.

The resort wedding planner was spread between multiple events at the same time at different locations at her property, since ‚Äúboth brides‚ÄĚ wanted her, not the other person on site.¬† The resort wedding planner could not be with 2 brides at 2 different sites at the same time, she told me she would ‚Äúbe right back‚ÄĚ to help get the ceremony started on time.¬† The resort wedding planner did come back, yet she missed my bride‚Äôs entire ceremony. The resort wedding planner showed up 23 minutes past the start time of the ceremony. The resort wedding planner was out of breath, and thanked me for starting everything without her. The bride and groom had just kissed, and were ready for their recessional (when you walk down the aisle as husband and wife).

At a recent bridal show, a few brides told me they had a “wedding planner included in their package.”¬† Asked them who their wedding planner was, and they didn’t know.¬† They also did not know what the “venue wedding planner” did vs. what I could do for them as 1 of 61 in the World as a Master Bridal Consultant.

Would you want this to happen to you, especially when it comes to the most¬†stressful part of the wedding day, where it is beneficial to have¬†an experienced wedding planner¬†¬†lead, line up,¬†and direct¬†your VIP entrance of your closest family and friends,¬†in the middle of¬†making sure¬†your musicians change the music on time for the appropriate VIP entrance.¬† Remember, everyone knows what time your ceremony is expected to start, it is printed on your invitation!

Focus is ‚Äúall about my bride‚ÄĚ, and I organized and directed the bride‚Äôs wedding rehearsal the previous day, and started her ceremony processional (when your VIPs walk in and you too) on time. My bride had no idea the resort wedding planner missed her ceremony, and that is the way it will stay. No names or photos are listed here for a reason, and if you are a client and think it was your wedding, I will deny it!

One church wedding planner tried to have the Mother of the Bride escorted down the aisle by her ex-husband. I immediately stepped in, diffused the situation, and had the mother walk in with her son (which is how we rehearsed it, and how it was on the approved wedding timeline which the church wedding planner had in her hands).

Thankfully the bride didn‚Äôt know, yet the MOB (mother of the bride) knew. The mother of the bride thanked me for eliminating what would have been an awkward situation, and commented, ‚ÄúYou are worth your weight in gold‚ÄĚ!¬† The church wedding planner had gotten the bride confused with the details on the wedding which was right after this bride’s wedding.

Precision with details and experience are everything when it comes to hiring wedding planner!